Coil filament coating machine



Nov. 27, 1956 Filed Sept. 30, 1953 J. R. ARDIZZONE ETAL con FILAMENT COATING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR J. R. RRD\ZZONE J.M. HARPER Nov. 27, 1956 .1. R. ARDIZZONE ETA!- 7 COIL FILAMENT COATING MACHINE Filed Sept. 50, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. -J.R. ARDlZZONE .LM. HARPER Nov. 27, 1956 J. R. ARDIZZONE 2,771,856

COIL FILAMENT COATING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 30, 1953 a INVENTOR LRJRDQZZONE an. umzvm 3 E 1 A1 m r m n w W m 0 7 4 .6 H 0 2 Q 3 m 2 .7. 8 I 9 2 7 s z w m 6 Q V| \.w ALF Nov. 27, 1956 J. R. ARDIZZONE ETAL 2,771,856

COIL FILAMENT COATING MACHINE Filed Sept. 50, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR -R. ARNIZONE J. M. HAR PER ATTORN Nov. 27, 1956 .1. R. ARDIZZONE ET 2,771,856

COIL FILAMENT COATING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 50, 1953 INVENTOR. 1R. ARDIZZONE in. HARPER ATTORN United States Patent() 2,771,856 Con. FILAMENT COATING MACHINE Joseph R. Ardizzone, Newark, and James M. Harper, East Orange, N. J., assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 30, 1953, Serial No. 383,205

6 Claims. (Cl. 118-423) This invention relates to filament fabricating machines, and more particularly, proposes a machine for waxing the leg ends of coiled-coil filaments prior to chemical dissolution of the temporary mandrel upon the filament was wound.

Filaments of the coiled-coil type have been in common use for many years and fabrication has been accomplished by coiling the filament wire on a mandrel and then coiling the coil-covered mandrel into final form for the filament, after which the mandrel has been chemically dissolved. in coiling the coil-covered mandrel to the final form of filament, it is customary to leave the ends thereof extending substantially axially outward thereby constituting legs for attachment of the filament, by welding or otherwise, to the lead-in wires of a lamp. With the mandrel dissolved from the entire filament, the legs are fiimsy and diificult to weld to the lead-in wires. It has been proposed to apply wax or other coating to the filament legs prior to the acid treatment and thereby prevent the mandrel from being dissolved from said legs and thus maintain rigidity and adequate body for welding purposes. The proposal, however, until now, has proven to be commercially impractical for several reasons. Labor cost to individually hand-dip both legs of a filament in hot wax is prohibitive. Hand-dipping has proven to be uncertain as to extent of mandrel protected and consequently the filament electrical resistance varies in difierent lamps. Furthermore, handling of the filaments either with fingers or tweezers frequently contaminated intermediate portions of the filament and interfered with proper dissolution of the mandrel thereat.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a machine to perform the waxing operation automatically with speed and regularity.

More specifically, the invention proposes a machine which will effect an even length of waxing on successive filaments, and without smearing or injuring portions of the filaments intermediate the waxed legs.

A further object of the invention is to successively wax both legs of each filament without any handling or operator manipulation between times.

Still other objects of the invention will appear to persons skilled in the art to which it appertains as the description proceeds, both by direct recitation thereof and by implication from the context.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views:

Figure l is a front elevation of a machine embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Figure 3 is a plan view;

Figure 4 is a section on line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is a section similar to and showing a portion of Fig. 4 on a larger scale;

Figure 6 is a cross-section on line VIVI of Fig. 5;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view indicative of rotor stations and inversion actuation of the filament carrier:

Figures 8-12 inclusive are end views of the filament carrier with a filament therein and showing successive positions thereof;

Figure 13 is an elevational view of air pressure control means for assuring filament unloading from the carner;

Figure 14 is a sectional view on line XlV,-XIV of Fig. 3, showing unloading mechanism;

Figure 15 is a sectional view on line XV--XV of Fig. 3, showing the jaw brushing mechanism; and

Figure 16 is an elevational view of a filament with the legs thereof wax-coated.

First considering the more general aspects of the invention illustrated in said drawing, the reference numeral 20 indicates a frame constituting a fixed support for the various mechanisms and at the top of which is a horizontally disposed rotor 21 to which a station to station revolving advancement is applied by suitable indexing mechanism in housing 22. Actuation of the indexing mechanism is obtained through the agency of a rotating shaft 23 entering said housing and having a pulley 24 fixed thereon driven by a belt 25 or other suitable means from a motor 26. Indexing mechanism is well known in the art so that further showing and description is deemed unnecessary. Sufficeit to say that the selected showing arbitrarily adopted for illustration with the present invention indexes the rotor around a vertical axis and revolves the carriers to eight successive stations which have been designated in Fig. 3 by numerals l to 8, inclusive. There are accordingly eight filament carriers 27 so that with each pause or indexed location of the rotor there will he a carrier at each of the eight stations. The loading station is shown at the left of Fig. 3 and designated as station 1, and the .un-' loading station is shown diametrically opposite to the loading station and is designated with numeral 5. Be tween these two stations, the filament 28 is stood vertically at station 2 so as to dip one end leg into a wax pan or trough 29 and is then reversed at station 3 to dip the other end leg. Station 4 gives opportunity for the wax to fully harden before the filament is discharged at unloading station 5. On the way back to the loading station, the filament carrier passes through a stop, for instance station 7, where the jaws of the carrier are brushed to free them of any wax that may have possibly splashed or dripped thereon.

The invention contemplates full automatic operation from the pick-up of the filaments to the discharge thereof with the leg ends fully waxed. According to the present showing, the operator places the filaments on a loader 30 from which the machine picks them up one at a time with each indexing advancement of the rotor. One construction of loader is illustrated to best advantage in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. It provides a channel 31 which extends toward the rotor in alignment with the rotor diameter at the loading station. The channel has upstanding side flanges 32 which are made correspondingly wavy at their upper edges so as to provide opposite hollows and opposite crests between the hollows for the full length of the channels. The chap.- nel flanges are far enough apart to admit the coiled coils of the filament 28 therebetween with the end legs resting on top of said flanges, and by virtue of the hollows in the channel flanges, the filaments come to rest in perpendicin lar relation to said flanges in said hollows with the fila-. ments spanning the channel and the leg ends of the filaa ments projecting beyond the flanges. The construction is such that the filaments are advanced from one hollow to the next with each indexing of the rotor.

Pusher mechanism is provided for effecting controlled, advancement of the filaments from hollow to hollow of Patented Nov. 27, 1956 the channel flanges. One form of mechanism is shown as providing a pair of feed dogs 33 one at each side of the channel, each said feed dog having upstanding pins 34 in equal number to and spacing as said hollows, The dogs and pins have an orbital path of movement such that, while the pins project above the level of said hollows, they move forwardly to push the filaments from one hollow to the next. Thereafter the dogs and pins lower adequately to locate the upper ends of said pins at a level lower than the filament ends, said dogs then retracting longitudinally and moving the pins back to their original location where they again rise to repeat the orbital cycle.

Feed dogs 33 are fixed upon a vertical support 35 which is mounted to slide vertically in a slide plate 36 which extends in the same general direction as the feed dogs oliset at one side thereof, Said slide plate has slots 37 longitudinally thereof for receiving supporting rollers 38 carried by the fixed table body.39. The slide plate 36 thus allows longitudinal movement for the feed dogs and vertical support 35 provides the vertical movement. Said vertical support has a stud .40 projecting therefrom which rides in a slot 41, extending in the same general direction as said slide plate slots 37, and formed in a teeter plate 42. To the rear of the teeter plate slot 41 is a pivot 43 for said plate, said pivot being carried by and projecting from said slide plate 36. A stop pin 44 projects from the vertical support 35 to limit vertical movement of said support with respect to the slide plate. At the bottom of the teeter plate is a substantially vertically disposed slot 45 which has a roller 46 therein carried by a lever 47 actuated by the indexing mechanism to make a complete swinging cycle forwardly and back to starting position with each indexing advancement of the machine rotor.

As shown in Fig. 5, lever 47, slide plate 36, dogs 33 and pins 34 have just completed their forward motion and are ready for the return movement. Lever 47 starts moving back (to the left in Fig. and teeter plate 42 swings on its pivot 43 thereby lowering support 35, dogs 33 and pusher pins 34 which will consequently be then able to pass under the filaments. As soon as support 35 is stopped in its vertical movement by stop pin 44, continued swinging of lever 47 applies sliding force to slide plate 36, thereby moving the dogs and pins 34 thereon to the left end of their orbits of movement. Next, as the lever reverses its direction of swing, the teeter plate is swung toward the right and lifts the support 35 introducing pins 34 between filaments and when swing of the teeter plate is stopped, the lever then advances the slide plate 36, dogs 33, pins 34, and filaments 28 again to the position shown in Fig. 5. By this means a filament 28 is presented at the end of the loader 30 toward the rotor 21 each time the rotor indexes, and it is this finally advanced filament which is picked up by the carrier 27 indexed at the loading station.

Each carrier 27 includes as part thereof a rotatable arbor 48 the axis of which is radial to the rotor, said arborhaving appropriate journal support in said rotor. In the outer end of this arbor is a slidable bar 49 here shown coaxial therewith and projecting from the end of the arbor. A transverse pin 50 fixed in said bar v49 projects through :a longitudinal slot 51 in the arbor, said pin keeping the bar from rotating in the arbor but permitting relative longitudinal movement of said bar. During the indexing operation of the rotor, as'a carrier arrives at the loading station 1, said pin rides into an arcuate slot 52 in a-slider 53 carried at the top of frame 20, said slider being disposed in parallelism to the position of the arbor 48 when said arbor is at the loading station. Said slider 53 is actuated by a lever 54 from the indexing mechanism in proper timing to slide the slider toward the loader-upon arrival of the carrier at the loading station, and to slide the slider awayftom the loader as thecarrier leaves the loadin st t ng The dv n eme t of he slider bring the outer end of the bar 49 into substantially abutting relation to the inner. end of the loader channel 31. Said outer,

The filament therefore, as received by the jaw, extends cross-wise of the jaw with its leg ends projecting at opposite sides of said jaw.

The filament thus advanced onto the lower jaw 55 is gripped thereon by a swinging upper jaw 56 before retraction of the lower jaw takes place, and before the carrier starts uponits next indexing movement. Said swinging jaw is shown as carried by an arm 57 pivoted at one end by wrist pin 58 to said bar 49 back from the jawend'of said bar. At the loading position of the carrier, said arm extends upwardly and is provided with spring loading 59 tending to close the upper jaw toward the lower jaw and to resiliently grip the filament between said iaws. The spring loading is obtained by supporting the spring on a mandrel .60 one end of which is pivoted to said arm and the other end of which slides through a bracket 61 fixed on said bar 49. Furthermore said bracket constitutes a convenient means for attachment of a spring 62, the other end of which is secured to a post 63 on the arbor, for normally retract ng said bar into the arbor.

In order to open and close the swinging jaw, for loading purposes, a trip lever 64 is provided and is here shown as erigageable with the upper end portion of the arm 57 and extending laterally to a side .of the table body 39 and thence downward within the frame with oscillating mounting on a trunnion 65jand having a cam-engaging member 66for timed operation from a cam 67 rotation whereof is synchronized with the indexing mechanism. The cam functions to swing trip lever 64 at the time the foremost filament is fed to the jaws, and to retract the lever thereafter so arm 57 may swing outward under impetus of the spring loading and thereby cause the jaws to grip and hold the filament.

As has been herein'before indicated, the filament as received by the jaws lies horizontally, as shown in Fig. 8, with its ends projecting -from'the sides of the jaws, and at the-next station, as shown in Fig. 9, it is desired to have the filamentupright so as to dip one end thereof into pan or trough 29. To accomplish this desideratum, the carrier 27, in addition to being revolved about the vertical axis of the-rotor, is rotatable upon its own horizontal axis. Such rotation has been indicated as permitted by virtue of the rotatable mounting of arbor 48 in the rotor. The rotation is obtained by keying a beveled pinion 68 on saidiarbor. The pinion is arranged to appropriately mesh with an arcuate or other rack 69 fixed with respect to the frame 20. As the turning of the filament to stand endwise is .only required at stations 2 and 3, as in Figs. 9 and 11, where the wax pan or trough is located, the rack 69 maybe segmental and of sufiicient duration "and appropriate location to revolve the filament from horizontal to vertical ,in approa h to the indexed position of the carrier at station 2, and to revolve the filament another by the time it reaches the next indexed position of the carrier at station 3. To avoid dragging the filament leg through the wax from one station to the next, it is preferable to arrange the rack as indicated in Fig. 7, to rotate the arbor 90 as the carrier starts its revolution away from station 2 toward station 3, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, and then as the carrier comes into appropriate'proximity to station 3, to give it a further turn of 90 as shown in Fig. 11, so the second leg dips into the pan or trough while the rotor stands at its indexed position at station 3. Then as the rotor starts toward its next position, the rack functions to rotate the carrier and locate the filament horizontally .once again, as appears in Fig. 12, said filament having been revolved through a tot l. a ar disp ace t o 6 hi h p t on the swinging jaw once again at the top of the filament. From h re ba k to ad ng posit on o t a c r e er no furth r, rotat on at carrier 9. hor zo l axi so the jaw mounting arm 57 projects upwardly.

At the unloading station, heretofore indicated as station 5 diametrically opposite from the loading station, the upstanding arm 57 rides into contact with a deflector 70 which thereby lifts the upper jaw 56 to release the filament to fall into receptacle 71 therebelow. To make unloading certain, a pipe 72 for discharge of compressed air is directed toward the position of the released filament. The air jet may be restricted to short interval of discharge occurring only when the carrier is indexed at the station and the jaws in open condition. For this purpose, a valve 73 is indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 13, in the air line. Said valve may be operated by a crank 74 from a cam 75 actuated from the indexing mechanism in proper timed relation to the indexing. If so desired an air regulator 76 may also be included in the air line to regulate the jet intensity of air directed to the filament. The filament as discharged has coating 77 of wax on its end legs only, as shown in Fig. 16.

In order to be sure that the jaws are clean and not contaminated with any wax thereon, a second deflector '78 for engaging upstanding arm 57 may be provided at a station, such as at station 7, to again open the jaws. While the jaws are thus open, they pass in contact with a rotating brush 79 appropriately located and operated. Mention may be made here that the wax employed is one which readily hardens at room temperature and the brush used is adequately stifi to assure removal of the hardened wax. The wax is kept soft in the trough or pen 29 by any suitable heater 80.

We claim:

1. A coil waxing machine comprising means for gripping a coil intermediate of the ends thereof, a pan located beneath a position of said coil While gripped by said means, and automatic mechanism for manipulating said gripping means and coil and introducing both ends of the coil successively into said pan.

2. A coil waxing machine comprising means for gripping a horizontally disposed coil intermediate of the ends thereof and transferring said coil to another location, a pan at said location underlying the coil thereat, and automatic mechanism for manipulating said gripping means and coil successively to a position with one end depending into the pan and to a position with the other end depending into said pan.

3. A coil waxing machine comprising a rotor having a plurality of indexed positions, coil gripping jaws at each of said positions, means for opening said jaws and closing the same to grip a horizontally disposed coil at one said position of the rotor, automatic means for turning said jaws to stand the coil verticaily at another indexed position of the rotor, a pan juxtaposed to the coil in its vertically standing condition in such proximity thereto that the end of said coil dips into said pan, and automatic means for inverting the coil to dip its other end in said pan.

4. A coil waxing machine comprising means for feeding coils in a parallel series successively one after another, a rotor having indexing means, and coil manipulating mechanism carried by said rotor, said mechanism including means slidable at an indexed position alined with said coil feeding mechanism to an advanced position and away from the same, jaws on said mechanism carried into overlapping juxtaposition to the nearest one of the coils of said series at said advanced position of said slidable means and adapted to close upon and grip said coil thereat and withdraw said coil from the feeding means as the slidable means retracts, a wax pan in the path of movement of an end of said coil, and means for opening said jaws for discharging said coil during the rotor cycle prior to repetition of advancement of said slidable means.

5. A coil waxing machine in accordance with claim 4 wherein said slidable means is also rotatable and adapted to rotate said jaws and coil to a position transverse to the position of the coil as presented by said feeding means, said Wax pan being in the path of movement of the lower end of said coil while said coil is in said transverse posi tion.

6. A coil waxing machine in accordance with claim 5, wherein said slidable means consists of a bar slidable in an arbor, and wherein said arbor is rotatable, said bar and arbor having a slot and pin engagement with the pin projecting beyond the arbor, and a slider engaging said pin at the coil feeding station and adapted to actuate said bar both forwardly and rearwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 130,475 Chaput Aug. 13, 1872 1,562,479 Whitaker Nov. 24, 1925 1,774,453 Raiche Aug. 26, 1930 2,419,484 Danziger Apr. 22, 1947 2,544,199 Vredenburg Mar. 6, 1951 

